


laughing 'til our ribs get tough (but that will never be enough)

by sapphfics



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Study, F/F, Femslash, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 14:08:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11945871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphfics/pseuds/sapphfics
Summary: Marlene desperately hopes that she will never have to leave Lily’s side for as long as they both shall live.





	laughing 'til our ribs get tough (but that will never be enough)

**Author's Note:**

> for jade,  
> i love you.

Their first meeting is so utterly unremarkable that Marlene thinks almost nothing of it until she's staring down the end of a wand.

There's an unspoken rule that the only time it is deemed socially acceptable to make friends at Hogwarts is on the train during your first year, but someone forgot to give Marlene the memo because she hardly even looks up from her book until someone throws a chocolate frog at her head.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"

Marlene looks up, glare at the ready, only to find that a girl with hair the colour of sunset is sitting in front of her. She nearly gasps in surprise. "Oh - um - it's ok," Marlene is a little lost for words and she can't explain why. "Er, no offence but...were you always sitting there?"

"Yeah," She admits, sheepish. "But I'm very good at making no noise and pretending I don't exist, so you might've missed me. Besides, you seemed pretty invested in that book."

Marlene bites her lip, since she was actually considering chucking the thing out the train window since she's pretty sure the author only wrote it to spite her. "I was."

"For what it's worth, I didn't actually want the chocolate frog to hit you," she says. "I guess - I just have really bad aim, and it's lunchtime - unless time works differently for magic people, I dunno - and you didn't look like you had any food and this weird boy in the carriage across from us bought an entire box full of these things and gave me a few for some reason and I'm full so I just kind of -" She takes a breath, laughing nervously. "Wow, I'm talking a lot, aren't I?"

"It's okay," Marlene assures her, then realises she hasn't even introduced herself, and sticks out her hand somewhat awkwardly. "Uh, I'm Marlene McKinnon, it's nice to meet you."

"Oh, I'm Lily, Lily Evans," Lily replies, shaking her hand vigorously.

Marlene glances at the chocolate frog that's now sitting in her lap. She unwraps it, bites off it's head. Lily hasn't stopped staring at her, so she swallows and she is grateful. "Thanks for the chocolate."

"Anytime," Lily says and it almost feels like a promise. "So, are you gonna tell me more about the book? 'Cause you were looking like you were about to set it on fire."

Marlene bites her lip but then Lily sends her a smile that could make flowers bloom and coaxes her into talking. She soon finds that Lily can make anyone feel like they’re speaking the word of Merlin himself, and it feels as if she doesn’t shut up until the train pulls into the station.

Lily takes her hand and together, they climb in the boat beneath a starless sky. Lily’s nervous. Maybe that’s why Marlene does all the talking, but Lily doesn’t seem to mind. It’s Marlene who first points out that they must control the scenery in the Great Hall and Lily whispers in her ear about how this is the kind of the thing Muggles can only dream of.

Lily gets sorted before her. Lily saved her a seat and Marlene’s never sure if Lily cheers louder than the rest or if Marlene can pick out her voice in the crowd the way a wand chooses its wielder. Like magic itself.

(Marlene never lets on that she specifically asks the hat not to part them.)

Marlene sits near a boy with dark hair who is clearly unhappy with his house and she’s glad it isn’t her. Lily looks at him, concerned but he only glares back at her. Lily clenches her fists.

“From what I’ve heard, Gryffindor is a great house,” Lily says to him, crossing her arms. “You should feel lucky the hat sent you here.”

“This is a mistake,” he replies, venomously. “I’m not supposed to be here. Everyone in my family always goes to Slytherin, it’s just how it is, how it’s always been. I’ll be lucky if my Mother doesn’t -”

“From what I understand, the hat’s meant to put you where you’re supposed to be,” Lily says. “Not where you want. Being here is your destiny, whether you like it or not.”

“Destiny can kiss my -”

That’s when a tall boy with glasses speaks up. “Sirius, that’s enough.”

Lily sends him one of her winning smiles and Marlene almost cuts through her plate.

“Thanks,” Lily says. “I’m Lily, nice to meet you.”

“Uh, I’m James Potter,” James says. “Don’t mind Sirius, he’ll get over it.”

“I’m sure,” Marlene says, sharply.

“So, did you guys meet on the train too?” Lily asks, as though she’s genuinely interested in his response.

He laughs, cleaning his glasses on his shirt when Marlene’s pretty sure he could clean them with magic. “I could hardly call myself a hogwarts student if we hadn’t, now, could I?”

“Us too,” Lily says, pointing at Marlene. “Is that a tradition or something?”

“I guess,” James says. “So, did your parents tell you any stories about what they got up to here? My mum and dad first met running from Filch in the same secret passage way. The way he tells it, the second he saw her shoot a hex so powerful Filch got flung into the ceiling, he knew she was the one.”

“That’s cute,” Lily says. “But my parents aren’t magical, like yours are. None of my family is.”

“Oh,” says James. “That’s so cool! So, what’s this telephone I hear so much about?”

Lily barely looks at her for the rest of the evening, until the feast arrives. Marlene isn’t sure why she feels so hurt being ignored by someone she has known for less than a day and yet she is.

The other boy, wearing a rather worn looking cardigan and looking as though he could use a rather long nap, pipes up. “Is there always this much food?”

Marlene rolls her eyes and is glad to have Lily to herself when they go up to their dorm rooms. Without hesitation, Lily drops her bags on the bed beside Marlene and Marlene grins.

//

Her mother had told her she would have the best years of her life at Hogwarts.

By fifth year, the best thing by far at Hogwarts is Lily.

//

On the first monday of her fifth year, she notices that Dorcas Meadowes has charmed a strip of pink into her hair.

Marlene doesn’t like to think about how that’s the first time she ever really noticed Dorcas, but it’s true. It’s not that Dorcas isn’t striking, it’s just that Lily is so all encompassing everyone else seems to fade away.

Marlene kisses her in the greenhouse because she can. She tells Lily and she is ecstatic. She plaits Lily’s hair and they fall asleep together on Lily’s bed.

The sunlight wakes her up, and Marlene desperately hopes that she will never have to leave Lily’s side for as long as they both shall live. 

//

They do everything together, just like they always have.

(Well, almost everything.)

The night they join the Order, at Dumbledore’s request and Marlene duels Severus Snape and defeats him with a satisfied smile. She shouldn’t feel as good as she does, she knows it’s a mistake, that she shouldn’t let herself feel anything until Voldemort is dead, but she can’t.

She kisses Lily one night, firewhiskey on her tongue and the stars glittering above her.

In the morning, she and her entire family are nothing but ashes.

**Author's Note:**

> this has been sitting in my google docs for far too long...anyway, sorry if this makes no sense.


End file.
